Notes on Sanford's Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus Sanfordi and Other
VOL. 17 (2) JUNE 1997 81 AUSTRALIAN BIRD WATCHER 1997, 17, 81-86 Notes on Sanford's Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus sanfordi and Other Raptors in the Solomon Islands by JERRY OLSEN, Applied Ecology Research Group, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra, P.O. Box 1, Belconnen, A.C.T. 2616 There are few published reports on raptors in the Solomon Islands (Brown & Amadon 1968; Schodde 1977; Hadden 1981; Cade 1982; Coates 1985; Fentzloff1989, 1990; Blaber 1990; Webb 1992, 1997; Gibbs 1996). In September 1990 I visited the Solomon Islands mainly as a tourist but also to look for Sanford's Sea-Eagle. Fourteen raptor species breed there and I report here on the eight raptor species I saw, and in some cases photographed, on the islands of Guadalcanal, in Guadalcanal Province, and Ghizo, Kolombangara and Kohinggo in the Western Province. The Solomon Islands are a scattered double chain of 992 islands, atolls and cays just south of the Equator, extending 1646 km in a south-easterly direction from Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. The six major islands, Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Malaita, Santa Isabel, Choiseul and Makira, vary in length from 87 to 171 km and in width from 25 to 50 km. The country's highest peak Makarakombu (2447 m) is on Guadalcanal and the islands are covered in dense rainforest, with mangroves, swamps and coconut plantations on the coasts. Rainfall averages 3500 mm but is closer to 6 m a year in many areas. Eleven diurnal and three nocturnal raptors breed in the Solomon Islands (Appendix 1 gives scientific names).
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